[Why & Next]② The Major Multi-member Constituency System Pushed Aside by 'Number of Pages'... A Closer Look at the Election Law

Instead of Switching to the Controversial 'Large Multi-member District System' with Conflicting Interests,
'Mixed-Member Proportional Representation' Amid Satellite Party Controversy Emerges as Likely Option

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Following the mention of the 'transition to a large multi-member constituency system' by President Yoon Seok-yeol and National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo, discussions on revising the election law are active in the political sphere. With 1 year and 4 months remaining until next year's general election, the National Assembly's Political Reform Special Committee (Jeonggae Special Committee) has begun full-scale rule setting, and discussions on redistricting are expected to focus on the currently proposed bills.

According to the National Assembly on the 9th, the Jeonggae Special Committee will discuss amendments to the Public Official Election Act related to redistricting at the 2nd Bill Review Subcommittee meeting on the 10th. Among these, there are about 10 bills related to the mixed-member proportional representation system and about 3 bills related to the large multi-member constituency system. A Jeonggae Special Committee official said, "Bills related to redistricting continue to be submitted, so more may be added, but so far, the bills related to the large multi-member constituency system include those proposed by Representative Park Ju-min (Democratic Party) and Representative Kim Sang-hee (Democratic Party)."

Legislation Proposing the Introduction of Large Multi-Member Constituency System by Representatives Lee Tan-hee, Park Ju-min, Kim Sang-hee, etc.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

First, most of the bills related to the large multi-member constituency system proposed by President Yoon are being pushed by lawmakers from the main opposition party, the Democratic Party. The election law amendment bill, which was jointly proposed by Lee Tan-hee, Democratic Party (Gyeonggi Yongin Jeong) representative in November last year, centers on introducing a large constituency system where instead of electing one member per district as is currently done, 4 to 9 members are elected.

For districts including rural and fishing villages, there is a proviso to elect no more than 3 members considering the area, etc. The system of electing 2 to 3 representatives from one electoral district is called a medium multi-member constituency system, and the system of electing 4 or more representatives is called a large multi-member constituency system; this bill combines both. The amendment also includes increasing the number of proportional representatives from the current 47 to 77, expanding the total number of National Assembly members to 330.

The amendment bill, which was jointly proposed by Park Ju-min of the Democratic Party in December last year, sets 17 metropolitan cities and provinces as regional constituencies and elects 6 to less than 12 members per constituency considering population, etc., as a large multi-member constituency system. It also includes abolishing the current 47 proportional representation seats and converting them into Nordic-style adjustment seats that correct the discrepancy between the nationwide party vote ratio and the number of elected members by party in each region.

The amendment proposed by Kim Sang-hee of the same party introduces a large multi-member constituency system where metropolitan cities such as Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju, Daejeon, Ulsan, and Gyeonggi Province elect 5 to 10 members per region, and rural and fishing areas such as Gangwon, Chungcheong, Jeolla, Gyeongsang provinces, and Jeju Island elect 3 to 5 members per region.

"Prioritizing Revision of Mixed-Member Proportional Representation System to Prevent Manipulative Satellite Parties"

However, the election system agenda that the ruling and opposition parties are particularly focusing on in this Jeonggae Special Committee is the 'mixed-member proportional representation system.' There are eight bills related to the mixed-member proportional representation system submitted to the Jeonggae Special Committee since September last year. The mixed-member proportional representation system was introduced in the last general election but sparked controversy over 'manipulative satellite parties,' and since both ruling and opposition parties point out this as a problem, it is widely expected that it will be revised first.

A Jeonggae Special Committee official said, "The core of the current discussion is improvement related to the mixed-member proportional representation system," adding, "We plan to discuss bills related to this." On the 4th, Nam In-soon, chairperson of the Jeonggae Special Committee, also explained on MBC Radio, "The agenda of the Political Relations Law Subcommittee is 'improvement of the mixed-member proportional representation system,'" and "It is the agenda content of the electoral system agreed upon by the floor leaders of both parties." Chairperson Nam said, "Various measures have been proposed to improve the mixed-member proportional representation system," adding, "There are proposals to abolish the mixed-member proportional representation system entirely and return to the old system, to revert to the parallel system, and also bills to prevent satellite parties."

The bills submitted by People Power Party lawmakers such as Jeon Ju-hye, Jang Je-won, and Kwon Seong-dong emphasize abolishing the mixed-member proportional representation system, while bills submitted by opposition lawmakers such as Kim Young-bae and Kim Du-kwan propose regional proportional representation systems. On the 5th, Jeong Jin-seok, emergency committee chairman of the People Power Party, emphasized on Facebook, "(The issue of election system reform) is not about choosing between single-member districts and large multi-member districts," and "The work to restore the semi-mixed proportional representation election law unconditionally must precede." Among Democratic Party lawmakers, many bills advocating regional proportional representation systems have been proposed, drawing attention.

In the case of Representative Lee Sang-min's bill, out of a total of 300 members, 127 are to be elected from regional constituencies, 127 from regional proportional representation, and 46 from nationwide proportional representation. Representative Kim Du-kwan's bill proposes changing proportional representation from the existing closed list to an open list and dividing the proportional representation into six metropolitan regions instead of a single nationwide constituency. Representative Kim Young-bae's bill introduces a regional proportional representation system that institutionally minimizes wasted votes and argues for increasing the ratio of regional to proportional representatives to 2:1 by electing 220 regional members and 110 proportional representatives to maximize regional representation and population representation.